Saucy Lettuce Wraps with Chicken

The idea of something wrapped in lettuce does not on the face of
it always sound like a main meal to me. But lately, I’ve been
craving a concoction I first had at PF Chang’s, and made some this
weekend.

My husband was pretty dubious about a food wrapped in lettuce.
He didn’t say it, but I”m sure he thought: “Isn’t that salad?” But
I think I made a convert this weekend.

If you’ve never had one, they’re pretty simple things. Bibb or
Boston lettuce leaves are filled with marinated meats, veggies,
crunchy things and topped with a savory sauce. You can be pretty
flexible about what you put inside. The key is to making a sauce
that has a lot of flavor that you like.

Places like PF Chang’s, The Cheesecake Factory and others serve
these as appetizers, but I thought they worked well as part of a
multi-plate meal (I also served up some stir-fry bok choy and a
plate of my grandma’s-style fried rice), and would probably be fine
eating just these for dinner. Actually, if I was more carefully
watching what I ate, I would just have the wraps as meals. They’re
relatively filling, and depending on what you put in them, they can
be relatively fat-free.

So, like I said, the key is in sauce, something blending
salty-sweet-savory-spicy. I’ve seen variations on Thai style chili
and lime, various soy-based sauces and more. You just have to find
what you like. I happen to love big ginger taste and Hoisin sauce, so below I’m offering up
one to my tastes. I’m also including the marinade I used for the
chicken.

Both are bastardizations of various recipes I’ve found online,
so I’m going to claim them as my own. However, as note, I regularly
visit Cookinglight.com and allrecipes.com.

What a good idea! This week is chicken week (I’m a culinary school student), so I’m looking for new ideas and I love the textural aspect of this (crunch of the lettuce against the creamy texture of the chicken).